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Lucky at last
It was Easter 2004 and I was where anyone with an modicum of interest in thoroughbred breeding in Australia would want to be – scouting the Inglis sales complex at Randwick in Sydney inspecting the cream of Australia’s yearlings.
Certainly, Inglis at Easter can be a time for play, jumping from marquee to marquee, but I was in work mode doing the inspections for a close friend, who was on the search for a well-bred filly.
In 1999, we had bought a Marauding (NZ)-Voltage (Whiskey Road (USA) filly, later named Eldarin, at the same sale for $130,000. The filly was a sister to Lee Freedman’s Group 1 Oakleigh Plate winner Drum. It was a toss up between her and an athletic Bigstone filly that really caught our eye (we looked at her five times), but we let the Bigstone filly go in favour of the better pedigree.
Eldarin proved a talented racehorse, winning three races as a 3YO, but a severe back injury prevented her from reaching the racetrack heights her ability deserved. The Bigstone filly had her pedigree boosted a week or so after the sale when her half-brother Kinzaffra (by Kinjite) won the Group 3 Tramway Stakes (1400m) at Randwick. The Bigstone filly raced as Lady Mulan and won the 2001 Group 2 Light Finger Stakes (1200m) and the Group 3 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m), both at Randwick.
Eldarin was retired in 2001 and went to Arrowfield to be covered by a young Redoute’s Choice (by Danehill (USA)). Her first foal, a colt, sold at Easter for $1.1 million and went on, as Mearas, to win the Group 3 Spring Stakes at Newcastle and the Listed Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m) at Randwick.
Sheikh Mohammed’s men made an offer for Eldarin that was too good to refuse, so missing out on Lady Mulan was well forgotten.
But I digress. As I was building a nice list for my buyer, I arrived at the small draft of New Zealand breeder John Thompson, from Rich Hill Stud, Matamata.
When I asked to see “his filly”, Thompson hesitated. “We are just starting to walk her out as she had a bit of an accident. There’s a bit of skin missing, but she’s starting to move well now.”
The “bit of an accident” was an understatement. The filly, by Zabeel from the classy Stakes-winning Centaine mare Arletty, was lucky to be alive. When she flew in from New Zealand to Sydney, she spooked while being unloaded at the airport, got away from her handler and charged around grounds at Mascot airport.
This was a worrying and dangerous time for all involved. The filly was proving hard to catch and she had slipped on the tarmac. Take offs and landings from Australia’s busiest airport were put on hold. Airport officials alerted the ground staff that if the filly couldn’t be caught quickly, there was no other option other than to destroy the rampaging horse.
Fortunately, the terrified filly ran herself into a corner, enabling the frantic handlers to grab her.
Thompson said that the gun was virtually cocked. “Much longer and she was a goner,” he said.
This beautifully-bred filly came through her ordeal remarkably well. She had lumps and bumps all over her but she paraded like a professional. Tall and athletic, she walked with enormous strides. I loved her and when my mate arrived, she went to the top of the list.
I remember our strategy was that the filly, because of her visible injuries, was likely to go through the ring under her value, so we expected her to be inside our budget’s extreme of $250,000.
Sheikh Mohammed’s men and others must have had the same idea, and had, of course, a bigger budget. The filly sold to the Sheikh’s John Ferguson for $480,000 and we left empty handed.
The filly’s fateful story provided her with the clever name Lucky Mascot.
But the story didn’t have a happy twist; the filly was very slow, placing only once in seven starts before she was retired to stud. Lucky Mascot’s first mating to Exceed And Excel (by Danehill (USA)) failed to produce a foal and her second, to Shamardal (USA) (by Giant’s Causeway (USA)), also was a disaster when her filly foal died soon after birth.
The mare’s luck may have well have been used up dodging planes on the Mascot tarmac.
Third time lucky. Lucky Mascot returned to Exceed And Excel, producing another filly, a fine specimen like her mother. Last Saturday, that first live foal, named Koala Bear (pictured), won the Listed Cinderella Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville for Darley and trainer Lee Freedman.
Great story Danny, well done.